Hiking across Exmoor

Exmoor National Park was created the year that I was born, so birthdays are fitting occasions to visit this remote stretch of hills and cliffs straddling Devon and Somerset.  With moors to the south and 34 miles of rugged coastland bordering Bristol Bay to the north, the park is a wonderful place to hike and to take pictures.  The towns and hamlets are historic and picturesque, and the summer crowds haven’t really descended yet, allowing time to meander and to take it all in.

 

The central portion of the coast protects the paired communities of Lynton and Lynmouth.  The latter was destroyed in 1952 during a flash flood that swept down the gorge above town.  Today, the river is carefully diverted and hotels are nestled well above the valley.  The restaurants are excellent as well (fish ’n chip art is fanciful, but there was excellent duck as well).

  

But I thought that the best times were out in the sunshine and up on the cliffs doing some hiking along the rocks.  The areas near Valley of the Rocks and out towards Combe Martin Bay were outstanding on a nice day.

   

More to see on my Flickr site